There has been known an electrical connector for establishing connection between a user-installable external memory card and a circuit component in an apparatus body such as of a cellular phone.
The electrical connector includes a connector housing formed of a resin and accommodating the memory card, and a plurality of metal contacts (connecting terminals) fixed in the connector housing as one piece.
Respective one end of the connecting terminals in the connector housing is connected with each electrode of the circuit board in the apparatus body by means of solder or the like. When the memory card is inserted in the connector housing in this state, terminals of the memory card come into contact with predetermined portions of the connecting terminals in the connector housing (such as bellows-folded portions). Thus is established the electrical connection between the memory card and the circuit component in the apparatus body.
Mechanical connection between the circuit board in the apparatus body and the connector housing is established by means of the solder provided at the respective one end of the connecting terminals (That is, the soldered portions serve the dual purposes of establishing the electrical connection and the mechanical connection).
However, opposite ends of the connecting terminals from their individual ends connected with the circuit board in the apparatus body are in a free state as fixed nowhere. Hence, the arrangement involves a fear that plural times of insertion and removal of the memory card may cause fatigue of the aforesaid connected portions so that the connecting terminals and the connector housing integral therewith may be lifted off from the circuit board in the apparatus body.
As a countermeasure against such a lift-off of the connector housing, for example, it may be contemplated to establish a zigzag connection between the connecting terminals and the circuit in the apparatus body, the connection in which a respective pair of adjoining connecting terminals are connected alternately at the one end and the other end thereof. However, such a zigzag connection leads to a difficult circuit-pattern layout in the apparatus body, hindering the downsizing of the apparatus.
In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the invention to provide an electrical connector adopting a simplified construction such that the electrical connector mounted in the apparatus body may be prevented from encountering lift-off from the circuit board in the apparatus body.